Sc. usages: 1. As in Eng.; specif. in various proverbial expressions.
Sc. 1721 J. KellyProverbs 275: Owe the Mare, owe the Bear, let the Filly eat there. Spoken when we see a Man's Goods squandered by his own people.Abd. 18th c. ByronDon Juan (1822) x. note: Brig o' Balgownie black's your wa' Wi' a mither's ae son and a mear's ae foal Doun ye sall fa'.Sc. 1817 ScottRob Roy xxvii.: There's sma' sorrow at our parting, as the auld mear said to the broken cart.Uls. 1886 W. G. LyttleSons of the Sod ii.: Money maks the meer gang, it's true, but it niver made a lad or lass happy yet.Bnff. 1890 Trans. Bnffsh. Field Club 61: The blind mear's first in the mire.Abd. 1916 G. AbelWylins 19: “The better horse is the gray mear”, The neebours said.Sc. 1922 J. BuchanHuntingtower x.: Mrs Morran was moved to observe that there was “naething sae bauld as a blind mear”.Abd. 1929 4 : Fat's their meerie the day may be your horsie the morn. (One gloating over another's loss or downfall may himself be in a worse position soon).

2. Sc. phrs.: (1) Tamson's mear, walking, on foot, Shanks' pony (Abd., e. and wm.Sc. 1962); (2) the tail of John Frost's gray mare, a cluster of icicles; (3) to give somebody the wind of the mare's tail, to ride off leaving someone behind; (4) wha has lost his mare?, why all the hurry and fuss?
(1)Sc. 1893 StevensonCatriona xix.: Tamson's mear would never be the thing for me.(2)wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 57: The Westport well . . . had an irregular train of silvery-looking icicles hanging from the spout, long and flaky, and such as the children in some parts of Scotland call the tail of John Frost's gray mare.(3)Lnk. a.1779 D. GrahamWritings (1883) II. 32: I'se gie you the wind o' the mare's tail, and gar ye wammel hame an' a' your wate coats about you.(4)Lnk. 1806 J. BlackFalls of Clyde 175: “Wha has lost his mare?” “James bad me tell you, fast as ye can scud, To follow him this moment doun the wood.”

3. Fig.: an implement used as a support or to carry a load; specif. a wooden trestle, such as is used by a mason to support scaffolding (wm.Sc. 1868 Laird of Logan App. 508; ne.Sc. 1962), also in comb. meer-foot; a wooden support for the shafts of a two-wheeled cart to keep it in a level position for loading when no horse is harnessed in it; a bricklayer's hod (wm.Sc. 1868 Laird of Logan App. 508). Deriv. marefu', as much as a hod will hold.
Gsw. 1739 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1911) 23: The tacksman to be obliged at his entry to grant recept to the master of work for the whole weights, balks, broads, dails, flakes, meer feet, &c., belonging to the trone and weigh house and fish mercat.Ayr. 1821 GaltAnnals xxxvi.: The three were seated aloft, on a high stage, prepared on purpose, with two mares and scaffold-deals, borrowed from Mr Trowel the mason.Fif. 1823 W. TennantCard. Beaton v. iv.: I think I set my apron and my mare as weel as you your apparel. . . . I've a marefu' o' as good lime here as ever cam out o' a lime-kill.Abd. 1920 A. RobbMS.: We took roon the cairts to the barn door and set them on timmer mears ready for loadin'.Abd. 1929 J. AlexanderMains & Hilly 170: An' ye hid as mony aul' barrows an' mason's meers set up to haud the rope aff o' the grun'.

4. A nickname for an inhabitant of the Ork. parish of Rousay (Ork. 1962).
Ork. 1883 J. TudorOrk. and Shet. 614: Rousay — Mares. The inhabitants of this island are so called, because, at least so says tradition, when they wanted to establish a breed of horses on the island, they sent a Moses Primrose sort of fellow to buy at the nearest fair, who purchased a lot of mares, but forgot all about there being any need of stallions.Ork. 1908 Old-Lore Misc. I. viii. 320, 326: Tell 'im gin 'e winna voo tae hae wir dialec ta't i' the skeuls, there's naither a stirlin', gruely belkie, . . . mare or bluidy puddin 'll vote for 'im. . . . A ald Rousa mare ca'd Jeems o' da Bu.

5. Sh. usage: a machine for twisting fishing lines; the beam which supports the water-wheel of a horizontal mill (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), Sh. 1962).
Sh. 1939 A. C. O'DellHist. Geog. 154: In the past the mane and tail hairs of the ponies were spun by a spinning “mare” into a line for the fisheries.